Melendez, Benavidez remember influential UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz

Being a legend in any sport means champions, future champions – or simply everyone to come after – are inspired by the legacy left behind.

Such is the case for UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz (16-11 MMA, 15-11 UFC), who holds the UFC record for light heavyweight title defenses with five. On July 7, the 37-year-old retired after 15-years following a unanimous decision defeat in his UFC 148 trilogy bout with fellow former champ Forrest Griffin.

“He was the first person not only to watch kick more butt than anyone else, but he was the first real icon, face of UFC,” Benavidez told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “He had this signature look: flame beanie, blond hair, flame short – he was the most recognizable figure.”

Ortiz debuted in the UFC at UFC 13 in May 1997, before Zuffa and president Dana White became involved in the sport, and fought 27 of 28 career contests in the octagon. While Benavidez watched Ortiz on television in New Mexico, Melendez watched as the fighter born in his hometown of Santa Ana, Calif., developed from local standout into “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.”

Melendez’s high school wrestling coach, Fernando Serratos, wrestled with Ortiz at Golden West College, which began the kinship he felt for the fighter in the opening stages of what would become a UFC Hall of Fame career.

“You’d see Tito Ortiz. Maybe you’d see Tank Abbott, too. But more so Tito Ortiz. [You would] yell his name out and [he would] keep it down for us. We were from the same neighborhood, kicking butt, throwing up the double middle fingers (at UFC events),” Melendez said of seeing Ortiz around Southern California. “Frank Shamrock and the Lion’s Den— hit a double-leg, coming in with the flurry of punches of no fear. That’s what we loved about him. That’s why I got into MMA.”

Benavidez said Ortiz’s brash attitude separated him as much as his ground-and-pound—a style uniquely ahead of its time in and out of the cage. Outside of Ortiz rival Chuck Liddell, few, if any, UFC fighters in that era stood out the way Ortiz did. Ortiz walked away from the UFC with 16 victories, 11 by way of stoppage, eight of which were from his signature ground and pound.

“Being a wrestler in high school, it was just like you do in a street fight: I’ll take a guy down and ground-and-pound him,” Melendez recalled of Ortiz’s commonality. “Seeing Tito doing that, he’d take guys down, and just let go with the elbows. He did it so naturally. I think that posted in my mind and where I picked up my ground and pound from.”

Both Melendez and Benavidez agree Ortiz fought well in his final octagon appearance, leaving whatever he had left in the cage for fans like themselves to see one last time. Of course, they thought he should have taken the judges’ nod – though they recognize Griffin’s case for the split-decision win. Griffin’s interruption of Ortiz’s post-fight speech, which he apologized for after, didn’t sit well with the fighters, who wanted one more commemoration of Ortiz’s accomplishments.

They have the early days to look back on, when he bested the likes of Guy Mezger, Wanderlei Silva, Evan Tanner, Ken Shamrock – even a loss to Frank Shamrock at UFC 22 is a classic. More recently, Ortiz’s dramatic first-round guillotine choke upset of five-to-one favorite Ryan Bader at UFC 132, which ended a 0-4-1 five-year winless streak, stands out in defining Ortiz’s career. It was his final victory.

When fighters like Melendez and Benavidez ascend, their heroes can become their peers seemingly overnight. Benavidez said he was starstruck to eat and hang out with Ortiz as fellow UFC fighters – a testament to Ortiz’s stature. Having such influential figures around provides them with the necessary perspective for what they are trying to accomplish in their own careers.

“I’m creating my own legacy, as well,” said Melendez. “Trying to represent for the Mexican-Americans, for the Californians, I really like the way Tito did it.”

He is adamant Ortiz’s legacy is “one of the best fighters ever, one of the best champions ever and a guy that took the sport to another level.”

Really, what can be said about Ortiz that may not be said about future champions is laid out plainly by Melendez: “I think because of him, I have a job.”

The fans are the sport in Benavidez’s mind, but the brotherhood of respect among fighters is vastly gratifying in a different way, one he can only imagine once reaching five title defenses and Hall of Fame status, like Ortiz.

“I haven’t experienced it too much yet, but it’s always nice to get any kind of respect from your peers, especially for me, fighters who are bigger than me, been around longer than me, to tell me, ‘I’m a fan. I love watching your fighting style,” said Benavidez. “I have to imagine for Tito, it’s just crazy because there are fighters out there that are world champions and everything and we all look up to him. Rightfully so. He kind of paved the way for all of us – especially as a wrestler, he definitely paved the way for all of us.”